Kickstart Scheme

What is it? 

The Kickstart Scheme is a £2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality 6-month work placements for young people.

How does it work? 

You can use the Kickstart Scheme to create new 6-month job placements for young people who are currently on Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment. The job placements should support the participants to develop the skills and experience they need to find work after completing the scheme.

Funding is available for 100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, plus associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions. There is also £1,500 per job placement available for setup costs, support and training.

Funding is available following a successful application process. Applications must be for a minimum of 30 job placements. If you are unable to offer this many job placements, you can partner with other organisations to reach the minimum number.

If you are a representative applying on behalf of a group of employers, you can get £300 of funding to support with the associated administrative costs of bringing together these employers.

Who can apply for funding?

Who can apply for funding

Any organisation, regardless of size, can apply for funding.

The job placements created with Kickstart funding must be new jobs. They must not:

• Replace existing or planned vacancies
• Cause existing employees or contractors to lose or reduce their employment

The roles you are applying for must be:

• A minimum of 25 hours per week, for 6 months
• Paid at least the National Minimum Wage for their age group
• Should not require people to undertake extensive training before they begin the job placement

Each application should include how you will help the participants to develop their skills and experience, including:

• Support to look for long-term work, including career advice and setting goals
• Support with CV and interview preparations
• Supporting the participant with basic skills, such as attendance, timekeeping and teamwork

Once a job placement is created, it can be taken up by a second person once the first successful applicant has completed their 6-month term.

How do I apply?

If you can create more than 30 job placements alone:

If your organisation is creating more than 30 job placements as part of the Kickstart Scheme, click here to submit your application directly.

If you would need to partner to create more than 30 job placements:

If your organisation is creating fewer than 30 job placements, you cannot apply directly. You must partner with other organisations in order to create a minimum of 30 job placements before applying.

If this applies to you, you have two options:

1. If your business is based in the East Midlands you can email: eastmidlands.kickstart@dwp.gov.uk . Upon doing so the local Kickstart team will help put you in touch with a representative in order to make a partner application. Please include the following information in your email:

• Email subject
• Company name
• Main contact
• Preferred contact information (for example phone or email)
• Your postcode
• Town or city of your proposed job placements

You will receive a telephone call from your local employer contact or the national contact within 2 working days.

2. The East Midlands Chamber is acting as a registered intermediary for businesses. The Chamber will collate registries of interest and help businesses to make sure they are prepared for their work placement. To apply this way please click here for more information. 

Find out more about becoming a representative for a group of employers.

Information sessions

A series of information sessions will be running from the 16-18 September for businesses to get more information about the scheme, hosted by the Chamber. Delegates will also have the opportunity to ask their questions to experts from the Chamber team. Please click here for more information. 

For more information download the Kickstart guide for employers, HERE.